Christmas Kiss
by Nightshade-Prime
Summary: John visits Dave in Texas for the Holidays, and buried feelings come to light. John/Dave and Dirk/Jake. Rated for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: In this AU, Jake and Jane had children, then split them up, Jake keeping John and Jane keeping Jade. Similarly, Dirk and Roxy did the same, Dirk keeping Dave and Roxy keeping Rose.

* * *

John glances down at his map as him and his dad walk through the unfamiliar city in Texas. He looks up at his dad when the man speaks for the first time in a while.

"I think we're lost, son." John sighs, nodding. This was so different from his small town in Washington. "I know! I just wanted this to be a surpise!"

"Then why don't you just ask him for his address and tell him that you want to send him a Christmas gift."

John grins, "I can't believe I didn't think of that before!" He pulls out his phone and logs into Pesterchum.

EB: dave, can i ask you something?

TG: john

TG: isnt it like

TG: really early where you are

TG: whats up

EB: oh, yeah... im just really excited because its christmas eve!

EB: i was wondering

EB: would you be willing to give me your address?

EB: i have a christmas present for you that i only just got ahold of.

TG: oh

TG: yeah sure

TG: you know what city i live in right

EB: yes.

TG: ok i live in the clockwork apartments

TG: 413 skia street

TG: in the penthouse apartment

EB: cool!

EB:oh!

EB: i have to go...

EB: dad wants me to help him bake a christmas cake

TG: ok see ya

-Ectobiologist logged off-

John puts his phone away and grins up at his dad, eyes sparkling.

"Dad, I know where we're going!"

_TIME SKIPS AWAY_

John bounces on the balls of his feet as he stands in front of the door to Dave's apartment, biting his lip. He turns back to his dad and says, "Maybe this was a bad idea... Maybe Bro won't want some strange people showing up on Christmas eve and ruining their traditions... What if Dave gets mad at me for sho-" He is cut off as his father reaches past him and rings the doorbell, placing a calming hand on his son's shoulder. When the door opens, the elder Egbert's eyes widen. "Dirk?" John looks up at his dad, surprised. "Dad, you know Mr. Strider?" His father nods slightly as Dirk tilts his head towards John for a moment. "Call me Dirk or Bro kid, never Mr. Strider." The man's eyes then slide up to John's dad, his face impassive even behind the shades. "Jake? ...It's been awhile." Jake nods. "Indeed it has, old chap... Years." Dirk crosses his arms. "Yeah. Anyways, why are you here?" John speaks up shyly. "I'm friends with Dave... I just wanted to surprise him for Christmas." Dirk nods and steps aside to let them in. "Dave has talked about you. You're Egbert, right? I'm sure Dave'll be excited. You two can wait in the living room ." He turns and walks down the hallway, gesturing to the couch as he passes it. He stops in front of door, then walks in. "Get your ass out of bed, little man. I've got an early Christmas present for you." Dave groans from where he is laying in bed with his laptop. "Come on Bro, seriously? Can it wait?" Dave pulls his headphones out of his ears as Dirk picks a pair of jeans up off the floor and throws them at him. "Yes, seriously. Get dressed and come out to the living room." Dave groans and stands, pulling the jeans on.

"Fine, fine... I'm coming! What did you get me?"

Dirk turns and walks out of the room. He moves to stand next to Jake, watching for Dave. From the couch, John cranes his neck, watching the hallway carefully. Dirk huffs lightly.

"Hurry your ass up, Dave! If you don't, I'll send it away."

Dave jogs out of his room, tugging a shirt over his head.

"Okay, okay I'm here! What did yo-" He breaks off mid sentence as he pulls the shirt completely over his head and catches sight of the Egberts.

"...John?"

John smiles and waves shyly. "Merry Christmas?"

Dave stares at him for a moment before laughing. "You got me Egderp, I wasn't expecting this!"

John grins at him and walks over. "Hehe... I'm glad! I couldn't think of anything cool enough to get you, so I asked Dad if we could come here for Christmas."

"That's pretty cool of you John, makes my gift seem pretty shitty." Dave smiles imperceptively

"Yeah... We got lost on the way here, though... That's why I had to message you."

"I'm not surprised. I only ever gave you my P.O. box."

Dirk and Jake stand next to each other, watching the children quietly. Dirk turns and nods towards the front door. Him and Jake leave, smiling back at the kids who were still standing in the hallway, chatting excitedly. The boys continue to banter back and forth for a while before John asks,

"So what were you doing before I got here?" Dave turns back towards his bedroom door and gestures for John to follow him.

"I was mixing some music." John bounces into the room and smiles.

"Will you play it for me?" Dave plops onto the bed and fiddles with his laptop, music soon streaming from the speakers. John gets quiet as he listens.

"Wow... This is really good, Dave."

Dave rubs his neck, embarrassed. "Nah, I didn't work that hard on it, it's not that great." John shakes his head on stares at Dave incredulously.

"Are you kidding?! This is really amazing, you shouldn't put yourself down like that!" Dave turns around to hide the blush on his cheeks. He pulls out an unmarked CD in a clear case and hands it to John.

"Since you're here, I'll give this to you now. I was going to mail it." John grins at Dave and takes the CD, turning it over in his hands. He is still examining it when Dave speaks again. "Your other present is already in the mail."

John glances up, surprised. "You got me two presents? What's the other one?!"

Dave smirks at him. "You'll just have to wait and see."

John groans and lays on the bed, pouting up at Dave. "Come on, Dave..." He whines

Dave will never be sure why he does what he does next, to be honest. Maybe it was because of the way John was looking at him in the moment. Maybe it was the excitement of seeing his best friend for the first time in real life. Some days, he admits to himself it was probabl because of the crush that he had formed over years of knowing John. He fell deeper for him everyday. Whatever the reason, as John lays there, pouting up at him, Dave leans down and kisses him gently. John's eyes widen and he freezes. As soon as Dave's brain catches up with his actions, he jerks back. As quick as the kiss started, it was over. Dave begins to ramble out an apology, but John cuts him off, a strangely blank look on his face.

"Dave... I- I...I think I should leave."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Blame my beta reader for the late update (no don't really shhh KKAngryKitty I was kidding I love you) I lied, I had the opening week of the play I'm in and a ton of work, so I neglected my baby. Sorry guys!

* * *

===John, panic and retreat.

Yeah, okay. You can do that. Only a moment earlier, your mind had been completely blank, but now your brain was catching up with the events that just occurred. Before you start completely panicking, you say, "Dave... I- I... I think I should go."

With that, you hurry out of the apartment, all but running past your dad. You hear the low tones of what seems to be an argument, and Dave's older brother is gesturing wildly at your dad. "What the hell is wrong with the Striders today?!" You think to yourself a bit hysterically. When you hear a shout of your name from inside the house, you do what any rational person would do. You run away.

You don't stop running after you leave his apartment building. In fact, you run all the way back to your hotel room. Once you arrive, you collapse onto your bed, staring at the ceiling. Your best friend just kissed you... Your best guy friend just kissed you! You can almost hear the gears in your head turning, trying to understand this completely unforeseen turn of events. You feel your face heat up as you think about that kiss. Were you even into guys? To be honest, you'd never really thought about it before... You've never really been interested in guys, but thinking back to the kiss, coming to the conclusion that it wasn't all that bad... Dave's lips were warm, and soft. In all honesty, the kiss was nice. You groan, using your pillow to cover your face and screaming into it. You are so confused! How are you even supposed to feel? You take some deep breaths, calming yourself.

"Okay, John," You think. "It's time to think about this."

A sudden idea presents itself to you, and you slide the CD that Dave made for you into your personal CD player, and it seems to calm your nerves. You allow your eyes to slide shut. You're not sure how long you lay there, but eventually you become aware of you father shaking your shoulder gently. You remove the pillow from your face and blink up at him..

"Son, let's go to dinner. I think it's high time that we had this conversation." You look up at him, confused.

"What conversation, dad?" You father smiles at you, but he looks almost... sad.

"I want to tell you about your mother, and how we came together." You sit up, interested. Dad had never wanted to talk about your mom, even when you were little. Once, you had found a picture of a younger him and three other people. You asked him about it, and he only told you that the picture was of him, your mother, and two close friends 'from happier days', and refused to speak of it again. You stand from your spot on the bed and nod at him. The two of you get ready in silence, both lost in thought. Later, when you are both at your table in some restaurant you can't remember the name of, he speaks again.

"I met your mother through a mutual friend, Roxy. Her name is Jane, and she is really a bang-up gal once you get to know her. Ok. So there was Roxy, there was Jane, and there was me. But there was one more person in our little coterie. His name was Dirk, and he was my closest friend. Now, I'm telling you this because you've become older and mature enough to handle it. I'm mighty proud of you, John. Dirk and I became very close as the first year of our friendship passed. My mother even complained about how I never seemed to stop speaking to him. Two years after we met, he told me he was falling in love with me. A week later, I realized that I felt the same way, and we dated for nearly two years after that." He pauses for a moment to let you take that in. "But, John, your old man was a right fool. After a year, I began to feel smothered and held back by the relationship, and I started to push Dirk away. I'm not sure how he put up with me for almost a year. Anyways, the harder I pushed him away, the more he fought to keep me. We both made mistakes. I ended up telling him that I didn't love him anymore and breaking up with him. Even near the beginning of our relationship, we had our little spats. Through these fights, Jane was always the one who took my side, and Roxy took Dirk's." He sighs heavily and runs a hand through his hair. "After I broke up with Dirk, our group split. We had a falling out. Dirk and Roxy refused to speak to Jane and I, and come sophomore year of college, they moved back to Texas, where Dirk was born. Jane and I stayed in Washington. A year later, we both got incredibly drunk on the anniversary of the group of us meeting in real life for the first time, and did some things that we regretted. I don't think I'd ever take it back though, because it gave me you. You have a twin sister, Jade, who lives with your mother. Jane stuck around until you munchkins turned a year old, then told me she was going to leave and she wanted to take you both with her. We fought for a while after that. I didn't want to lose either of you. We eventually agreed that she would take Jade and I would get to keep you. We still keep in touch, she occasionally sends me pictures and updates of your sister." You hear the familiar sound of PesterChum and he fishes his phone out of his pocket, and he mutters "just a second" and glances at the screen, staring at it for a long second before turning it off and putting it away. You both glance up when your food arrives, and you think about what your father just told you. You choose not to say anything, and you and your father chat quietly throughout dinner, then decide to watch some movies together for the rest of the night.

* * *

A/N: So this was mostly backstory and short, but I am working on the next chapter now, so yeah. Hope you enjoyed and I would always love comments.

The Mage of Mind bids you goodbye~


	3. Be the CoolKid

=== Be the coolkid

Are you sure? The coolkid isn't feeling so cool anymore. In fact he's panicking. What? You still want to be the coolkid? Ok, ok, fine.

=== Strange narrative voice: Be Dave Strider

Ok, you're Dave Strider and you're in full-on panic mode. What the hell were you thinking? You stare down at your friend as he seems to freeze up and go blank as you babble an apology. His next words cut through you like a knife. "Dave... I- I... I think I should go." John bolts to his feet and runs out of your room. Your eyes widen and you stare after him wordlessly for a moment before standing and running after him.

"John, hold on, please!" You throw the door open and curse as you watch your best friend go running down the street. You move to run after him, but your bro flash-steps in front of you and keeps you from doing so. The two of you struggle for a few moments before you allow yourself go limp in his arms, breathing heavily. "Bro... I screwed up." Bro rubs your back, and moves to lead you inside. As he does, you hear John's dad begin to say something, but Dirk cuts him off.

"Get out. Leave. You are not needed here. I've raised my son just fine without your input, and I will continue to do so. I haven't needed you in my life for a long time." After that, the other man leaves and Bro leads you inside to the couch and begins rubbing your back. "I'm sure it's not that bad, lil man. It's probably just a misunder-" You cut him off.

"I kissed him. Bro, I kissed him and he probably hates me now, and if he doesn't, things are going to be really awkward and he won't want to come over ever again." Dirk's eyes widen a bit at your announcement, and he pulls you closer to him, giving you one of the rare hugs that remind you of when you were little and scared and just woke up from a nightmare. You realize you're shaking. Burying your face into his shoulder, you mutter, "He's one of my only friends and I screwed up. What am I supposed to do?" Your bro makes a small noise in the back of his throat and glances up into space.

"I can't help you much in that respect, kid. I've never had all that much luck with relationships of any kind." You nod, already knowing the story of the four friends and how you had come into being. You don't look up as he speaks again.

"I'm sure it won't be an issue for Jake to bring John here tomorrow for Christmas, as that is what they apparently had planned." You are not exactly happy with this idea, but on the other hand, you know that his idea might be your last and only chance to fix things with John. You can only hope.

"If you think that he would be willing, it might work." Your brother, and yes, you know he's not actually your brother but he acts more like a sibling than a parent, hence, he is your brother. Anyways, back to the conversation. Your brother nods and looks at you. Hesitantly, you nod against his neck. "But we can't forget our Strider tradition on Christmas morning, so they will either need to come later or come watch. I personally think they should come. I should warn them about Roxy though... She might be there. You know she likes to show up occasionally." Dirk lets a small smile slip through at the thought of his closest friend. You knew that he was still in contact with your mother, and had even met her and Rose a couple times. Rose wasn't bad, for a twin sister, and you two seemed to have some pretty interesting conversations.

Clinging to Dirk, you don't move for a long time, and Bro eventually gently pulls your arms away from his neck and smiles at you.

"Want to play some video games?" You give a small smile back, leaning on him for the rest of the night as the two of you play games until very late (or very early). At midnight, you hit pause and smile up at him, slightly nervous for the day ahead.

"Merry Christmas Dirk"

"Merry Christmas lil man"


End file.
